


Someone Different

by Jinmukang



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Amnesia, Bonding, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Misunderstandings, Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:05:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinmukang/pseuds/Jinmukang
Summary: Prompt: Wild dies and is brought back to life once again via Shrine of Resurrection. There's some complications.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Linked Universe AU, based off a prompt I was given.  
> Posted on Tumblr, now it's here. Enjoy <3

Rain pelts down like a constant, sad song. Everyone sits miserably under a small overhang in the face of the cliff, all either refusing to admit what has happened or are stewing in their own guilt of what they have just done.

Legend doesn’t think any one of them should feel bad, it is all his own fault after all.

The rain is a constant reminder of that. It was raining when it happened, and he can’t get those images to stop playing in his head. It’s a horrible presentation that he can’t figure out how to turn off, every second he can see the rain mixing with the blood below him, turning the liquid pink as it drips down and pools around Legend and…

He sighs and brings his hands to his hair as he looks at the shrine built into the cliff wall a minutes walk up. Wild… Wild is in there. For the second time in Wild’s life he has been shoved inside a strange machine because the people around him aren’t ready for him to be gone.

_“P-please… no-”_

Legend shakes his head. No, don’t think about it. Don’t think about the blood escaping through his fingers, don’t think about Wild choking and gasping for air, don’t think about the stilling chest or the weakening whimpers or how he sat there completely useless as the light in Wild’s eyes faded to a foggy white color.

Don’t think about how Wild begged not to be put back in the shrine. Don’t think about how that went ignored. Don’t think about how Wild would rather stay dead than be back in that shrine.

_Don’t think about it._

Legend wants to scream, every fiber of his being wants to write off what happened as classic Wild being reckless, but his brain keeps kicking in and telling him that it is all Legend’s fault. It’s his fault Wild took that hit, it’s his fault Wild is in the last place he ever wanted to return to.

He looks up as Time approaches him. He steps over the campfire and stands over Legend with so many expressions Legend isn’t sure what’s on his mind. It could be disappointment, guilt, pity; Legend isn’t sure what he prefers.

“Legend,” Time says slowly and the rest of the group is silent. Legend can feel something get stuck in his throat, reminding him of the muteness of his childhood. He hasn’t felt that in years. He looks up at Time, ready to take anything thrown at him, yet at the same time knowing he could shatter right there with the blow of the wind.

“Yeah?” He asks after clearing his throat. He keeps his face neutral, not letting the others clue in to how broken and torn he is inside.

Time stares down at him with his unreadable single eye before he sits down on the log next to Legend. Legend is forced to make room. He glances at the others; Hyrule is pretending to not look interested, Sky is looking very facinated down at the ground, Warrior is staring full on until Legend meets his eyes to which he quickly looks away, Four and Wind are whispering to each other but glancing at Legend and Time every few words, and Twilight…

_“Wild!? CUB! NO!”_

_Rain pelting down, blood mixing with the water, crying faces and horrified expressions. Wet elbows and knees as Legend is shoved aside, as Twilight dives in and clutches Wild’s dead body like nothing Legend has ever seen before. Wind is crying, Hyrule is throwing up, Time is looking angrily at the heavens-_

Don’t think about it.

Twilight is currently sitting across the camp, eyes rimmed red from sobbing, blood stained his clothes from carrying a mutilated corpse. He’s staring right at Legend, eyes judgmental and probably already guessing how it happened, how it’s all Legend’s fault.

“What happened over there, Legend?” Time asks and now everyone is staring because they’re all curious. After all, how in the world could there be a casualty while fighting low level Bokoblins and one Moblin?

What happened? What happened is that Legend’s an idiot, he’s cocky. He was too absorbed in destroying the small guys that he didn’t notice the big one coming up behind him. He didn’t notice the Moblin lift it’s enormous sword up. However, he did notice being shoved out of the way, pushed to the ground. He did notice the strangled yell that came from Wild.

Don’t think about it.

“Reckless,” Legend finally forces out. His voice seems to want to stay in his throat like a thick syrup. “He was reckless.”

“Bullshit.” Legend snaps his head over to where Twilight is glaring at him. His hands are clenched above his lap, knuckles white. “He did it again, didn’t he?”

Everyone looks confused but Legend understands completely what he means. Wild has put others safety above his own once again, he has put his own body between a deadly blow and a friend. Only this time it costed him his own life.

Legend can’t make his mouth work, because admitting that Wild lost his life while saving Legend’s would be like admitting that he’s the one that killed Wild. He’s the one who slashed that sword across his chest.

Yet, his silence seems to be the answer Twilight is expecting.

Legend isn’t sure how he feels when Twilight sighs and buries his head in his hands. “Damn you, Wild.”

-o-o-o-o-

_He’s pressing down on Wild’s chest, his whole body is shaking with the cold wind blowing, with the rain soaking through his clothes and chilling him to the bone. His fingers are red, the ground is red, everything is red and Legend can’t breathe. Wild’s choking noises are dying down, his movements are weakening._

_Legend doesn’t know how long he’s been there alone, desperately trying to keep Wild’s blood inside of him but failing horribly at it. His voice is scratchy from his constant rambling that Wild is going to be okay, Twilight will be here soon, all of the others will be here soon, and they’ll have potions and they’ll fix him right up._

_No one is coming._

_The rain pours harder._

_Every time Wild blinks, his eyes are open a fraction less than before and Legend can feel terror take over. He’s begging now. Commanding Wild not to give up, that he’s been through so much and he has no right to die by a Moblin. No right at all. Wild isn’t listening. Legend moves on to how Twilight is going to be so mad, that Twilight is going to kill Legend if he dies, that Legend will never forgive Wild if he leaves him like this, he’s screaming and his throat hurts so much and he didn’t think he could go louder until Wild begins to lose focus and his gaze drifts up to the gray sky, not even blinking when rain drops onto his irises._

_“Listen to me Wild, LISTEN!” Legend screams and he pushes down against Wild’s bloody chest harder, his whole arms shake with effort. “No, no, please, no-”_

_He looks up and desperately turns his head side to side as he desperately tries to find **anything**._

_“Help! HELP!!”_

_His throat hurts so much. His eyes are stinging. He’s not sure the drops running down his face is just rain at this point._

“No nononono-”

_Then he sees it, the cliffs in the distance. Wild has mentioned them before when they have first stepped foot in his Hyrule. Over there is the first real memory he has: waking up, to a voice in his head. The beginning of his adventure. The Resurrection Shrine._

_A weak voice. “No…”_

_Legend looks back down to Wild and sees a small bit of life return to his eyes. Wild is looking at him with eyes as wide as they can go, and Legend realizes that he has just spoken out loud. “Does… does it still work?” Legend asks. It feels wrong, so horribly wrong to ask, but he knows that at this point Wild is doomed to die. No one is coming. His only option is to see if it’s possible to bring Wild back to life after._

_“Don’t-” Wild coughs and splatters red all over Legends face. “Not… there… please…”_

-o-o-o-o-

Don’t think about it.

Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard not to at this point, especially now that Legend was sitting in the very Shrine staring at the bright, crystal water that submerged over the corpse of his friend. Two weeks has passed and Wild’s bare chest was closed up, revealing a nasty scar that went from his collarbone to the hip opposite. It’s puffy and white with pink around the edges. It definitely looked like a wound that would never be able to heal up even with normal medical means.

Two weeks.

The rest of his group are getting antsy. They have done zero traveling, nothing but sitting under that cliff and venturing out into the forest every so often to get more fire wood or more boar meat. No one has even suggested they leave Wild behind and continue their journey even though there is no promise that Wild would be back alive any time soon. Last time it took him one hundred years, why would this time be any different?

The only time someone has even mentioned leaving the cliff wall was when Time said that they need to tell this world’s Zelda what has happened, but no one volunteered. They are all still there and the Queendom is still uninformed about it’s fallen hero.

However, Legend can tell that Time wants to move on, as harsh as it sounds. Sometimes he can be caught looking at different maps and muttering to himself about how long it will take to get to Castle Town or one of the stables to restock. He’ll stop instantly when someone walks in on him, but as time passes people are beginning to add in their opinions after they tell Time to continue.

Fights were starting to break out too… Wind is starting to snap at anyone who gets too close, Warrior is constantly rolling his eyes at anything anyone says, even Sky and Hyrule are starting to get a bit short tempered with the others in the group. Though, the worst in the group is Twilight. He’s also currently the reason Legend is sitting alone in the shrine feeling sorry for himself.

Legend doesn’t know how the fight started… only that it did. One minute there’s conversation and the next Legend is pinned against a tree with Twilight screaming in his face. Time was thankfully able to break up the confrontation but for Legend the whole world went silent. He wanted to tell Twilight that he deserves his anger, he deserves the harsh words. Instead he simply turned around and walked up to the shrine.

He sighs and leans further against the shrine wall, closing his eyes and listening to the subtle hums that echo off the walls. The room glows with a dull blue and orange light, but it still feels so dark.

Wild woke up here. This is his earliest memory. This is where he took his first steps, his first breaths of air, his first blinks. What a horrible place to wake up in… it’s no wonder he doesn’t want to come back.

_“Does it still work?”_

He shakes his head. Don’t think about it. Don’t you  _dare_ think about it.

_“Not…. Shrine… please…..”_

_“Wild-!”_

_“N- don’t put m-me back there…”_

_“Does it work or not?”_

_“P-please… p-”_

Legend let’s out a small whimper and brings his hands to his ears and his knees to his chest. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about how Wild died with that word on his lips, don’t think about how Legend ignored Wild’s pleading and took him to the shrine anyway, don’t think about how it’s all his fault,  _don’t think about it._  Stop.

Footsteps.

Legend looks up from where he’s buried his head into his knees and almost startles when he sees Twilight making his way inside, instead he quickly wipes at his eyes and pushes himself to his feet, setting his face into careful neutrality.

Twilight stops at the doorway and stares at the chamber for a second before he turns to look at Legend. His expression is hard to read. Legend doesn’t like that.

“What do you want?” Legend asks.

Twilight licks his lips and sighs. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

Legend folds his arms across his chest and looks down at the ground. He doesn’t trust himself to speak. He’ll probably say something he doesn’t mean; he’s always doing that.

“I just…” Twilight continues, “I just… feel useless. I wasn’t there for him, for you. And all this waiting, it’s grating at my nerves and I needed an outlet. It shouldn’t have been you. I wanted to apologise for that.”

Legend nods and looks down at the ground.

“Are you going to say anything?”

Something stirs in Legend’s chest and he glares back at Twilight. “What do you want me to say?” He hisses, and he doesn’t mean it, he doesn’t. “Do you want me to apologise that Wild got himself killed now? For your hurt feelings? Maybe I should apologise for the Moblin that killed him.”

Twilight’s face hardens and Legend remembers why the fight a few minutes ago started. “Legend,” he says, a warning in his voice.

But Legend doesn’t stop. “Do you want me to admit to killing him him? Apologize for that?!”

Twilight looks shocked. “That is not what I-”

“I’m not going to apologise to you,” Legend snarls, “he died because he was an idiot and it’s not- it’s  _not_  my fault.”

“I didn’t say it was,” Twilight says as he takes a step forward.

Everything is so small in that moment, the walls, the ceiling, the space between Legend and Twilight. He wants to run, get out of there before he makes things worse. “Stay away from me,” he says, glaring and Twilight stops and hold up his hands in surrender.

“I don’t blame you.”

“You do,”  _You should;_  Legend wipes at his eyes and ignores the moisture that gets on his sleeve. He begins to walk around Twilight towards the exit because if he stays here any longer he’s going to do something more than say a few things he’ll regret later. “You blame me, you think it’s my fault. You think I was the one who killed him, I didn’t. He was an idiot. He got himself killed. I didn’t- didn’t do anything.”

“Okay,” Twilight says carefully. Legend hates how carefully. He’s just about to run out of there and calm down when Twilight’s eyes widen when a new noise fills the air. A mechanical whirl mixed with the sound of water running through pipes.

“Wild,” Twilight breathes before he turns and sprints to where the blue liquid in the chamber is slowly sinking. Legend stills as he watches Wild lazily blinking as Twilight reaches down and begins to help Wild up.

Wild’s breathing. He’s moving his fingers and toes on his own. All the hurt inside Legend flies away as he watches Wild,  _alive_ , get hefted up into Twilight’s arms.

“Go get the others,” Twilight says, he’s smiling so wide and tears are dripping down his face, Legend doesn’t hesitate.

He turns and runs out the door, his brain moving a mile a minute but so quiet at the same time. Right as he’s about to climb up the random wall of dirt in front of him the sound of a pained grunt reaches his ears. Then the sounds of a scuffle.

He turns back, his heart pumping in his throat, and sprints. Something is wrong. They missed something. Something is  _wrong_.

He bursts back into the chamber room and stops in his tracks when he sees Wild, half naked and furious, holding Twilight in a choke hold. Twilight’s face is turning red.

Legend doesn’t think, he acts. He rams his whole body into Wild and wraps his arms around him in a restraining hold. Wild is kicking and squirming but Legend is eventually able to move into a position where he is expertly pinning Wild to the ground.

Twilight is coughing behind him and he looks back from Wild, who is still struggling and grunting angrily, to see Twilight pushing himself up against the wall.

“I got him,” Legend says, “go.”

Twilight gives him a wide eyed look before nodding and running out of the room.

Legend turns back to Wild.

“Hey, it’s us, idiot-” he says through a grunt as Wild pushes against Legend violently, though Legend isn’t about to give in that easily. “Wild, calm down, it’s us-”

Wild goes limp and closes his eyes, breathing hard. Legend relaxes, thinking that maybe Wild has calmed down.

That is his mistake.

The moment Legend loosens his grip on him, he is able to work an arm free, next thing Legend knows he’s on the ground desperately trying to take in air after a heartless punch to the throat. He tries to get to his feet but Wild kicks him in the gut and he’s down and in a whole lot of pain. His lungs are screaming and the world is spinning.

This isn’t Wild, this is someone else. Someone more violent, someone who’s not going to hold back. Someone… who doesn’t remember.

This isn’t Wild. This is Link.

He gasps for air and clutches at his gut, the realization that Wild doesn’t remember them makes his head spin. Of course. They didn’t even think about that. They didn’t think that maybe shoving Wild back into the Resurrection Chamber would erase his memory.

He hears the sound of multiple bodies entering the shrine, but the surge or hope he feels is quickly replaced with fear as he’s yanked up by his hair and held against Wild’s chest with a strong arm around his chest. There’s a blade to his throat, Legend’s own blade. Wild has grabbed Legend’s own sword and is now using it against him. It’s at that moment Legend realized how much taller Wild is.

“Wild-” he tries through his aching throat, but he’s cut off when the edge of the blade pinches into his skin threateningly, he can feel warm drops begin to lazily trail down his neck.

Twilight is first to barge into the room, but all the others are not far behind. They all stop in their tracks when they see Legend being held hostage, and Legend can’t help but feel ashamed by that. He’s a hero, just as much as the others, he’s  _not_  a hostage.

The sword digging into his skin tells a different story.

“Wild, we’re not going to hurt you,” Twilight says.

“Guys, he doesn’t have his memory,” Legend says quickly, “he doesn’t know who-  _ack_!” He chokes as the sword cuts into his neck again.

Legend can feel Wild make some sort of movement behind him, probably a gesture for the others to move out of the way, but Legend is too busy trying not to swallow so the sword doesn’t cut further into him, but the sword is pressed harder against him anyways in a threatening gesture to the others. Time narrows his eye and places a hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Let him through,” Time says, “we don’t know what he’ll do.”

Twilight looks like he’s about to argue but Wild grunts and Legend can feel the arm wrapping around his upper body tighten it’s hold. Time is right, they have no idea what Wild could do next. The one they knew would never hurt another human being, not even the Yiga. He would much rather make them powerless then send them off to the castle to be put in prison. But this one now is… feral. Angry. Scared. He could kill Legend and not blink an eye.

Twilight and the others reluctantly move to the side and Legend is forced to move forward. Wild moves them both slowly over to the pedestal by the door and Legend knows exactly what he is going for. The Sheikah Slate.

He let’s go of Legend for just a second to grab the slate and fasten it to his hip, the movement is so quick Legend isn’t able to defend himself before he is back to being held tight against Wild’s chest. They’re moving again and the others are just standing there as Wild begins to move backwards so he doesn’t have anyone behind him.

He’s torn between feeling panicked that they’re not doing anything and understanding that they are being careful. He doesn’t know what Wild is going to do with him by the time they’re out of reach from the others. Kill him? Ditch him?

Wild suddenly pushes Legend forward and there a sudden glow of light as a bow comes into existence in Wild’s hands, there’s a flaming arrow pointing right at Legends chest. The Sheikah Slate just gave a memoryless Wild an arsenal.

Wild jerks his head towards the wall of dirt, the last obstacle before the outside world and Legend understands what’s needed of him, he just wishes Wild would actually talk to him. This silent, ruthless version of him sets him on edge.

Legend slowly moves to the wall and climbs up, Wild keeps the arrow trained on him to stop the others from charging forward or Legend from running away. Legend is still a hostage. Now, Wild is at his first problem. He’d have to put the weapon down to climb up, and he can’t just teleport away because that would take more than a few seconds to access that on the slate. Legend stands at the top of the small cliff, wondering what Wild is about to do, before Wild suddenly turns around and releases the arrow.

It’s at that moment that Legend realizes that the arrow isn’t a fire one, but a bomb one.

The arrow hits the ceiling of the other room and chunks of stone fall to the ground and the floor shakes violently. Legend’s breath catches in his throat as dust kicks up and the rubble completely cuts the others off from Wild and Legend.

He doesn’t have enough time to react or wonder if they’re okay before Wild is by him and roughly grabbing him by the upper arm. Legend is practically dragged away from the shrine and into the world as dust licks at their feet and the grounds rumblings quiet. They burst outside and everything goes silent.

Oh Hylia. Why now?

There isn’t a cliff in front of them, but an endless forest. Legend and Wild spin around to find more forest behind them. They switched world’s during the worst time possible.

Pain explodes along the back of Legends head and he falls to the ground as black creeps in the edges of his vision. The last thing he sees before sleep takes him is Wild moving towards him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Ever update things up till 3 chapters on Tumblr and realize you completely forgot to update it on AO3 too? Oops. Chapter 3 will be out soon guys lol. 
> 
> Thanks for all the lovely feedback!!!! I'm so excited to show you guys these next chapters. Enjoy! <3

Legend blinks his eyes open and groans when the harsh campfire light hits him. His head is spinning and he can feel a small bump forming behind his skull. His throat is aching too, and he can’t figure out why. He swallows and blinks his eyes some more to clear them up.

What happened? He tries to think back to what he last remembers and thankfully it doesn’t take long. He startles completely awake to see Wild sitting across the fire with his hood pulled above his head, he’s curled up on himself and looking at his slate with narrowed eyes. Legend attempts to… do something. Stand up. Move towards him. Run away. He’s not sure at this point. Not that it matters, because he’s stopped by the rope around his wrists securing him to the tree behind him.

He realizes right then that he’s been completely searched and relieved of every weapon and item he has, he’s stripped down to just his clothes and nothing more.

He swallows nervously, not sure what this means.

He doesn’t know what he should do at this point. It’s not like he has a whole lot of options. He could just sit there quietly and wait for Wild to make the first move or he could try to talk to him, figure out more of what’s going on and such.

Talk to him, Legend thinks. Talk to him and try to get through to him. Convince him that Legend is not a threat, none of the others are a threat, and that they’re all friends. He opens his mouth, but his voice chokes when Wild suddenly looks up from the slate and glares at him.

Legends mouth shuts with a snap as Wild pushes himself up to his feet and walks around the fire. Legend stiffens, ready to lash out in any way he can despite this being _Wild_ , but Wild simply crouches down in front of him and shoves the screen of his Sheikah Slate in Legend’s face.

He blinks as his sensitive eyes adjust to the glowing screen, the light flares up his headache but he ignores that as he carefully looks at what Wild wants to show him.

It’s a picture and Legend can feel his heart squeeze painfully at the sight of it. The screen is showing the image of Wild and Legend standing next to each other, smiling for the picture, Legend is holding up two fingers in a peace sign while Wind Stuffs his face in the lower left corner. Legend remembers taking this photo, it was a spur of the moment thing. Wild caught him in a good mood and asked if he’d be willing to take a picture with him. Legend was happy to.

He looks at Wild and sees that easy going, unguarded expression. He was so genuinely happy to get a picture with Legend, he must have been as surprised as Legend was when he said he’d go through with it. He glances up and is struck with how different Wild is now, how cold and hard. His eyes are staring emotionless, calculating. Legend swallows and shifts against the tree behind him, trying to work up a bit of courage.

“That’s a picture of us,” he says. Wild gives him an unimpressed look before he turns the screen back to him and flicks his finger across it. He shows Legend the screen again, though this time it’s a picture of Wild and Hyrule inside a dungeon, both are dirty and roughed up but smiling like idiots as Hyrule holds up a golden key.

Before Legend can even comment on the photo Wild turns back and changes it to one where Sky is snoozing against a tree, Legend is stacking branches on his head. It changes, and it’s a close up of that wolf that’s always following them around.

Legend remains silent as Wild flicks through each photo one by one; he’s not sure what Wild wants. He’s always been rather expressive with his feelings, or at the least he’ll say something, but he hardly ever remains silent, especially around the other members in the group. Was Wild really this quiet before he met the others?

Finally, Wild pauses on a picture and his eyebrows come together ever so slightly. Nerved, Legend shifts and winces as the coarse rope rubs against his wrists. Wild slowly turns the slate around and Legend is almost at a loss for words at what he sees. It’s big, bigger than anything Legend has ever seen, and he’s fought some pretty big things. It’s red, piggish, and oozes pure evil. He doesn’t to ask what it is; he already knows.

“Calamity Ganon,” he whispers.

Wild frowns and looks down at the picture, staring at it with troubled eyes, then Legend understands. “That’s… the last thing you remember?”

Wild remains silent and continues to look at the slate before his shoulders stiffen up and he puts the slate back in its place on his hip. He get up and Legends heart drops.

Now. Talk to him now. Make him understand.

“You defeated it, Wild,” Legend says, “you saved Hyrule, you got Zelda back. Those pictures are proof, you just have to remember.”

Wild stills and his eyebrows come together for a second before he shakes his head and shoots a distrustful glare Legends way. He whips his head around and returns to his spot on the other side of the fire. Annoyance flares in Legend’s chest and he opens his mouth again but Wild narrows his eyes dangerously. Legend reluctantly sighs and leans back against the tree, attempting to stretch his shoulders that have begun to go stiff. It’s going to be a long night.

-o-o-o-o-

Dust and stale air is the first thing Twilight becomes aware of when his eyes blink open. It’s silent, not a single sound. When his eyes open, all he sees is darkness. He groans and begins to push himself to his hands an knees. Hard chunks of rock and bits of dust fall from his body and scrape against the cold stone beneath him. He continues to blink his eyes, but no light meets him.

Where is he?

His head hits something hard above him and he stumbles backwards and falls on his rear. A rock digs into his backside and he moans, rubbing his head. This won’t do. He allows his body to shift then, he lets his eyes become sharper and his teeth to sharpen. His bones shift and fur bursts from his darkening shin. In a simple heartbeat, the wolf opens its eyes to the world around him.

His heart stops by what he sees.

Wind is first to meet his sight. The kid is so still, laying on the ground with a chunk of boulder laying halfway on top of him. Warrior is next, his head the only thing to be seen beneath a fallen pillar of stone. Hyrule is crumpled next to him out of harm’s reach but has blood dripping down his head. Time too is under a chunk of stone, and as Twilight comes forward, he sees Four buried underneath him. Sky is nowhere to be seen.

And neither are Wild and Legend.

The fear Twilight feels at that moment… is indescribable. It makes his heart jump and stop at the same time, it makes his stomach tighten and his muscles spasm. Three missing. Everyone else unconscious and maybe seriously injured. He forces himself to focus, make a list of things to do and then do them. First things first, there are missing members and he must find them.

He lifts his snout up and takes in a deep breath despite how thick the air is beginning to feel. The smell of blood hits his nose first, but he pushes last that. He can smell the sea next, Wind, then the forest, Hyrule, then cologne, Warrior. He can smell Time’s scent of acorns and farmland mix in with Four’s distinct smell of crass and coal. Then, he finds one out of three scents he’s looking for, the one of rain and cotton.

He suggested forward to a lump of dirt near the back of their little cave and digs with his heart pounding in his thought. It takes a moment, just a single moment for him to brush against a hand. He digs deeper and eventually he’s pulling Sky out of the loose ground by the back of his shirt. He effortlessly switched back to normal, plunging himself back into the darkness, and checks over Sky with shaking hands.

Sky suddenly coughs, it’s wet sounding and definitely painful, but Sky continues breathing after the fit. He isn’t moving, but that’s as much Twilight can hope for at the moment.

He shifts back into the wolf and sniffs the air again, but he can’t find the smell of wildflowers mixed with the bitterness of a campfire. He can’t find the ripe apples and morning dew.

Where are Wild and Legend?!

He spins around, his eyes darting, desperately trying to find another mound of dirt or something, he doesn’t know, but he can’t find them. All he can see is each of his friends, his family, his pack, injured, but no Cub. No Legend.

There’s a flashing memory, he’s standing in the Resurrection Shrine, and watching Wild turn, fire glistening in his eyes from the explosive arrow he’s aiming. The whole world shakes when the arrow flies and pain erupts through his whole body as walls crumble and black falls over them the ear numbing loudness of destruction.

Twilight’s heart jumps in terror when he remembers everything that has happened. Wild woke up and he didn’t remember. He didn’t remember and he attacked, he took Legend hostage. He blew up the ceiling of the Shrine of Resurrection.

He—desperate now to wake everyone up—sprints over to Warrior, who looks to be the most injured and presses his snout against Warrior’s hair. Warrior simply groans and does nothing more. His heart is pounding in his throat and he presses his body against the rock above Warrior and pushes with all his might, but the rock doesn’t move. He turns and lets out a scared whine before he goes to nudge Time. Four is the one to react, blinking lazily into the dark as a dark liquid falls into his eyes.

Four groans and squeezes his eyes shut. Time doesn’t move.

Twilight looks around him to find something, anything, that can help. There’s no light and they’re down two members. He puffs air out his nose and scrambles his way over to one of the walls of the caved in structure around them. It doesn’t look right… It doesn’t look like the wall of a shrine, but of a normal cave. Something is wrong.

He shakes his head and dust falls from his fur before he presses his paws against the wall and begins to claw through the dirt. Thankfully it’s loose, though he has no idea how long he’ll have to dig to get anywhere. His instincts tell him to just dig, and he’s not inclined to argue. His pack can be seriously injured and they could quickly run out of air. He has to dig.

He claws through the Earth, hoping and praying that he’s heading towards the open world. He’s never been this panicked before… Or at least not in a very long time. His head hurts and the feeling of helplessness makes him desperately wish that he can just blink and everything would be fine. That Wild would be normal, alive, smiling, happy, sarcastic, _himself_.

The dirt is making it hard to breathe as he digs, pushing himself faster out of pure desperation. A few minutes in, he has to remind himself that he is still alive.

Finally, right when he was about to collapse out of anguish and depression, his paw slide through the dirt and the whole wall in front of him collapses, revealing the pale orange light of the sun shining through the leaves of the trees.

He forced his body out from the hole he’s made right near the base of a small hill. The sounds of birds and bugs accompany him as he turns tail and makes the hole wider. It’s not Wild’s world, and he can tell that instantly. They’ve switched Hyrules, probably mid explosion. Oh it just has to be one thing after another, doesn’t it? A growl pushes its way to his throat and he turns to the hole and glares at the darkness within.

Now comes the hard part.

He dives back into the hole and ignores the stinging of his eyes that are trying to adjust from one light setting to another. It takes just a few seconds for him to get back down to the others and he’s hit with the thought that every single one of them could be dead right now because of the world switch. The whole land above them could have collapsed and suffocated them before they could have even awoken, buried alive and never to see the sun, the sky, the clouds ever again.

He shakes his head, now is not the time for thoughts like that. He needs to clear his head and think only about helping the others and making sure they’re all okay. He’s worried about Wild and Legend of course, but there’s also Warriors whose completely crushed under the weight of a boulder, there’s Sky who had almost suffocated, Time who used his own body as a shield for the smallest in the group, Wind and Hyrule who definitely have head injuries.

Focus on now. Not the past, not a million miles away. Now.

Hope springs in his chest as he sees Hyrule groaning and slowly pushing himself up so he’s sitting. He’s blinking furiously, trying to see through the dark, but it doesn’t remain that way for long because when Twilight exits the hole he’s made, pale light creeps in, making it possible for Hylian eyes to see.

Thankfully, Hyrule is temporarily blinded by the light so Twilight can quickly shift back.

“You okay?” He asks and Hyrule startles and blinks. Twilight walks over and cups Hyrule’s face in his hands and stares at the various bruises and cuts. It takes a couple moments for Hyrule’s eyes to focus on him, which could be good or very bad.

“Twi,” Hyrule groans, “what…” he cuts himself off with another groan and brings his hand up to a sizable goose egg at the top of his head. Twilight frowns and squeezes Hyrule’s shoulders to get his attention.

“What do you last remember?” Twilight asks.

Hyrule’s whole face contorts in concentration before his eyes widen and he spins around way faster than what a person with a concussion should probably do. “Warrior,” Hyrule gasps at the same time he lurches to the side and vomits. Twilight rubs his back as he whimpers, he looks around their cave to see everyone passed out, injured, probably dying.

It’s hard to believe that Wild did this without blinking an eye.

“We need to wake up the others,” Twilight says and Hyrule nods as he lifts a shaking hand to wipe at his mouth. “Think you’re up to helping me?”

Hyrule nods again and slowly pushes himself to his feet, using his sword as a crutch. Twilight stares at Hyrule for just a second, the boy is one of the most happy and carefree of the group, but right now his face is set in determination.

And they get to work.


End file.
